AZ -- Canyon de Chelly Natl Memorial:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- CDC_060524_012.JPG: Spider Rock
- CDC_060524_028.JPG: Canyon de Chelly in Arizona
- CDC_060524_030.JPG: Spider Rock.
Listen.
Smell the pungent juniper.
Feel the gentle power of beauty.
Ancient Black Rock hunches on the distant horizon.
A dark cloud above means ruin will soon be upon us.
The awesome monolith at your feet is Tse Na'ashjee'ii -- Spider Rock. Holy Spider Woman is an important deity in Navajo mythology. It was she who taught the People how to weave.
There is purity and strength here. The places sacred to the People.
Places strong in the oneness of earth and sky and of all things.
- CDC_060524_098.JPG: Sliding House Ruins
- CDC_060524_104.JPG: Sliding House Ruins:
The Navajo know this prehistoric Anasazi village site as Kinaazhoozhi, which means Sliding House. It is an apt description. The dwellings were constructed upon a steeply sloping ledge, and even the ingenious Anasazi builders were unable to keep many of the walls from slipping.
Despite the precarious footing, evidence suggests that at one time this was a large village of from 30 to 50 rooms. Occupation of the site probably began around AD 900 and continued for about 300 years.
A Special Place:
Can you see the circular-shaped walls clustered in front of the ruins near the center? The outlines of these distinctive structures appear in the most authoritative archeological map of Sliding House made in the 1890s.
These semi-subterranean chambers are known as kivas -- and were probably used by the prehistoric Anasazi for religious and ceremonial activities -- much as kivas are used by Pueblo Indians today. Nearly all pueblos in the canyon include one or more kivas. Kivas were entered through a roof opening which also allowed smoke from the central fire-pit to escape. Ventilation was provided by a carefully engineered system of vents and baffles.
- CDC_060524_138.JPG: White House in Between:
Do you see the whitewashed walls of the central room in the upper level of this prehistoric Anasazi village? The Navajo mention these ruins in their Night Chant, calling them Kinii'Na'igai -- White House in Between -- because of this unique coloring.
At its zenith, the village housed about 100 men, women and children in some 60 rooms constructed of stone blocks with mud mortar.
The Anasazi people who lived here farmed the canyon floor, raising corn, beans, squash, and cotton. They made the fine cloth of cotton, robes of turkey feathers, baskets and sandals of yucca. They also produced pottery with elaborate decorations.
- CDC_060524_143.JPG: White House in Between
- CDC_060524_162.JPG: Anasazi -- The Ancient Ones:
Today, this beautiful canyon is much as it was when the first settlers appeared -- prehistoric Indians called Anasazi -- a Navajo word meaning "Ancient Ones." Perhaps they were so named because the Navajo found only their villages -- vacant and crumbling.
Shallow, dry alcoves -- such as you see in the far canyon wall -- provided sheltered building sites for the Anasazi.
Their first dwellings were pit-houses, dug in the ground and roofed with poles, grass, and earth. Later, they built many-roomed structures of stone and mud mortar.
Ruins of two Anasazi villages built more than 700 years ago are visible from here: First Ruin to the left, and Junction Ruin to the right (named by the first archeological expedition into the canyon).
- CDC_060524_169.JPG: In Touch With History:
This magnificent canyon was etched by water erosion and other natural forces out of ancient, many-layered rock formations. Two of these rock layers are visible in the distant canyon wall.
- CDC_060524_242.JPG: Tseyi -- The Rock Canyon:
As everchanging as light and shadow in this vista of Canyon de Chelly. The word Chelly (pronounced Shay) also reflects change, for it is the Spanish-English corruption of Tseyi -- Navajo for Rock Canyon.
The Navajo farms on the canyon floor still reveal traditional farming patterns, although steel hoes and plows have replaced the digging stick, and pick-up trucks now outnumber horses.
These farms produce crops for individual families, with little left over for sale. And even this marginal production is threatened by late spring and early fall frosts, sandstorms, summer drought or torrential rainstorms.
- AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
- Wikipedia Description: Canyon de Chelly National Monument
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, established April 1, 1931 as a unit of the National Park Service, is located in northeastern Arizona, within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. The monument covers 131 square miles (339 km²) and encompasses the floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument. These canyons were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuska mountains just to the east of the monument.
Its 83,840 acres (339 km²), all nonfederal, preserve artifacts of the early indigenous tribes that lived in the area, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples (also called Anasazi) and Navajo.
Canyon de Chelly is unique among National Park service units, as it consists entirely of Navajo Tribal Trust Land that remains home to the canyon community. Access to the canyon floor is restricted, and visitors are allowed to travel in the canyons only when accompanied by a park ranger or an authorized Navajo guide. The only exception to this rule is the White House Ruin Trail. Most park visitors arrive by automobile and view Canyon de Chelly from the rim, following both North Rim Drive and South Rim Drive. Ancient ruins and geologic structures are visible, but in the distance, from turnoffs on each of these routes.
The National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1970.
A spectacular geologic feature is Spider Rock, a sandstone spire that rises 800 feet (240 m) from the canyon floor at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Monument Canyon. Spider Rock can be seen from South Rim Drive. It has served as the scene of a number of television commercials.
Name:
The name Chelly (or Chelley) is a Spanish borrowing of the Navajo word Tséyi', which meaning "canyon". The Navajo pronunciation is IPA: [tsé?i?]. The Spanish pronunciation of de Chelly [det?e?i] was adapted into English, apparently through modelling after a French-like spelling pronunciation, and is now pronounced /d?'?e?/ ("d?sha'").
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